Essays on British Industrial Revolution

1733 - 1913

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain. Many of the technological and architectural innovations were made there. Starting in the mid-18th century it spread to other parts of the world.

There was a few reasons of the beginning of Industrial Revolution in Britain: shortage of wood and the abundance of convenient coal deposits; high literacy rates; cheap cotton produced by slaves in North America; system of free enterprise.

James Watt (1736–1819), a Scottish instrument-maker, in 1776 designed an engine in which burning coal produced steam, which drove a piston assisted by a partial vacuum. Watt's patent ran out in 1800, and by 1900 engines burned 10 times more efficiently after many improvements by others.

Richard Arkwright patented the technology in 1769 and, at the same time, revolutionised the process of cotton spinning.

It was one of the key developments in the industrialization of weaving during the early Industrial Revolution. The first power loom was designed in 1786 by Edmund Cartwright.

The most significant transport development in the 1800s was the invention of the railway. In 1829, George Stephenson invented a locomotive engine. He designed and built the Liverpool-Manchester railway.

In the 1800s, it became a normal thing to employ women and children to work in factories. Children were cheap to employ and their small hands were able to effectively operate the machinery. The conditions in the factories were very dangerous.

In 1837, British inventors Cooke and Wheatstone patented the first commercial telegraphy system.

From 1700 to 1900, there was huge migration of people living in villages to moving into towns and cities for work.